


Sometimes I Thought You Hated Me

by Drakey



Series: Not So Much [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 23:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2486255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drakey/pseuds/Drakey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wouldn't do for an auror to bet money on a quidditch game, so when the Cannons beat the Wasps, Harry has to pay up by proving he's spent the evening at a gay bar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes I Thought You Hated Me

"Oh Merlin, why?"

Harry peered up and immediately looked back down at his drink. He resolved to murder Ron for making him go into a gay bar. One lost bet should not be enough to cost him the many nights of sleep he was about to lose.

"Potter, what do you think you're doing here?"

"Well, Malfoy," Harry said conversationally to his firewhiskey, "it's generally called 'drinking,' and done for the purpose of getting completely toasted."

"I mean that you're not gay," Malfoy said, settling down onto the stool beside Harry.

"Not the last I checked, no."

"There's not any lesbians in here for you to ogle snogging each other," Malfoy pointed out acidly.

"I lost a bet."

An awkward silence somehow managed to spring up in spite of the pounding music that passed for something to dance to in the bar. Finally, Malfoy spoke again. "So nice to know you're still the prig from Hogwarts. How is it okay to use a gay bar as the punishment for losing a bet?"

"Well, you're here," Harry said.

"Yes, and I'm sure whoever sent you here knew that in advance, given I'm so well-known for coming here." Malfoy had always been able to ooze sarcasm. It was remarkable how much he'd refined it over the last few years. It was like a physical substance.

"What about you?" Harry asked. "I thought you were married."

"I am," Malfoy said. "But my private life is none of your business. Kindly get out of my bar."

"Oh god, you own this place?"

"No, but I've called dibs. Go someplace else."

"I can't. Ron's got a couple of blokes watching the place, and they'll tell him if I leave."

Malfoy downed a shot of something and glared at Harry. "Weasley would."

There was more awkward silence. Finally, Harry couldn't take it anymore. "Why are you still here?"

"Because if I'm here, nobody else will bother you. I figure I owe you that much. You wouldn't believe the looks I'm having to give other blokes to keep them away."

"Funny, I always thought you hated me," Harry said. He looked up at Malfoy, and winced a bit at the look on the other man's face.

"Strange enough, I did," Malfoy said.

"But the first thing you do is to sit here and protect me when you notice me."

Malfoy held out his hand. The bartender, apparently familiar with what the gesture meant from him, pressed another drink into it, which Malfoy tossed back with probably-inadvisable haste. "Believe me, Potter," Malfoy ground out, "I do not now have, nor have I ever had, a crush on you."

"Oh come on, you were always bothering me in school," Harry said. "Thinking back, I bet it must have been like a little boy pulling on a girl's hair because he likes her."

"Oh dear Merlin, shut up."

Silence again. Finally, Harry spoke again.

"What about at the manor? During the war? We got captured, and you wouldn't identify me for them."

Malfoy turned pink, and then darkened to bright red. for a moment, Harry was smug, and then Malfoy glared and Harry got the distinct impression he'd gone too far. "I was bloody terrified of Voldemort, and I knew that if I confirmed it was you, he would show up before too long. Not that you actually looked like you with your face all swollen. Even your stupid ugly scar was all distorted. Of course, your friends were recognizable enough. But the only person I was protecting was me. And if I had wanted to protect one of you little idiots, it would have been Weasley anyway, at least he was fit back then."

Malfoy clammed up abruptly and held out his hand for another drink.

"Oh my god, it was _Ron_ you had a crush on," Harry said as the bartender pressed another drink into Malfoy's hand.

Malfoy smiled, upended his drink on top of Harry's head, and replied "I had no crush on any of you. For thinking that's the only reason a gay man could have to interact with another man, though, you just lost my protection." He turned on his stool, got up, and walked away, leaning over to talk to someone down the bar a ways. From where Malfoy had leaned over, a large, thickly-bearded man of about forty leaned back and looked down at Harry. A smile split his face and he stood up. 

Harry had the feeling he should have quit talking while he was ahead.

**Author's Note:**

> It always strikes me as ridiculous that, in Harry/Draco that's set after DH, Draco's not ratting out Harry is taken as a sign that Draco was trying to protect Harry for Harry's sake.


End file.
